Anybody shoot my favorite caliber...the 257 Roberts?

[Waldo Pepper]

I have two in 257 Roberts and FN with Mauser action built in Belgium in '53 that has solid chrome vanadium steel barrel, glass bedded ebony tipped Cherry Wood Monty Carlo stock by the old Herter's company with Leupold 7.5 AO Varmint installed in '73 by me ($87 at the time) and Timney trigger installed last year. It has dropped everything I've pulled trigger on, from 200# WT deer at 50 yards running in 1958 to feral German Shepard in '74 at 370 yards with a Sierra 90gr BTHP that had pulled a deer down. Both were one shot kills and the dog was almost cut in half with the hot +P load in the old FN. It was used as varmint rifle mainly from '73 on and only went on 4 deer hunts up until I retired from deer hunting in '98 and all were filled tags.

The other 257R is a A-bolt Medallion with Leupold 3-9x40 AO on top and I have reworked the trigger myself and it has a 3.5# trigger with minimal take-up/creep and no over-travel and with the 100gr Sierra BTHP does sub 1" three shot group at 100 yards.

The A-bolt is too pretty for woods gun and has never been in the woods. Also the A-bolt is bad to heat up and after 3 shots the heating up starts it to walk POI, but the old FN with the solid chrome barrel will go 5 shots w/o heating causing accuracy problem.

 

[DanTheFarmer]

I've got a 257 Roberts. I just had to have one for no rational reason. I was able to get mine when I noticed Savage was making Model 14 Classics in 250 Savage. I bought one and had it rechambered to 257 Roberts. Why I had to have one varmint to deer, light recoiling, nostalgia inducing cartridge and not the other doesn't make much sense, but it doesn't have to. And besides Ned Roberts was from New Hampshire and so am I.

It has proven tricky to develop loads for but I am now good to go (doesn't mean I won't stop experimenting though!). I found a whole lot of things that don't work and now have a list of recipes that do.

I've got my scope sighted in for deer season using 100 gr. Sierra Pro-Hunters and Hunter powder. I get just under 3000 fps and a quarter will touch (or almost) a three shot group at 100 yards. Psychologically I wanted 3000 fps but accuracy fell off with every powder that pushed the bullets to that speed. I then cross referenced 100 gr. 243 commercial loads ("everybody" agrees that these are fine for deer) and found that they travel at...just under 3000 fps. Same weight of bullet, same speed, other factors very similar as well should result in the same outcome; venison given a well placed shot.

It has taken a while but I've got loads for:
75 gr. using BL-C(2)
87 gr. using 2000-MR
100 gr. using Hunter
117 gr. using Hunter.

Good Luck with your old favorite.

Dan

 

[Slamfire]

After shooting my 257 Roberts, seeing the velocities over the chronograph, I really wonder why anyone thinks they need a 243 Winchester.


The previous owner took out the sheet metal piece that made this a short magazine conversion and installed a full length follower. I was therefore able to seat the round out two tenths more to 2.9” and place the bullet only thousandths from the land. This rifle shot exceptionally well, for a period hunting rifle, with its favorite load.







100 Yards with a bench rest:



Now for bore cleaning. Chemical cleaners cannot remove impacted carbon and crud in the throat. At some point, if you notice a drop off in accuracy, clean the bore with J.B bore paste. I would sparingly use the stuff as it is an abrasive and your barrel is soft. I used to use the stuff every 300 rounds, now, I am going much further. I have seen POI shifts in high mileage target rifle barrels after using JB, and the POI moves until the bore decides it is fouled enough.

A shooting bud of mine, an F Class champion, she claims her rifle is less accurate after a cleaning and takes time to settle. Her husband cannot abide a dirty barrel and sneaks off to clean her rifles which causes her great consternation. :banghead: These things are important to know for a successful relationship.

 

[John3921]

I think the biggest 'problem' with the .257 came from it's early days when it was generally a re-barrel of a 7 mm mauser. The pressures were kept really low because of the soft steels in the receiver. I think the saami max pressure is 54,000 psi by comparison a more modern cartridge - the .25-06 is 63,000 psi.

With modern materials and handloading there is no reason a .257 Robert couldn't be loaded to it's potential.

 

[morcey2]

I think the biggest 'problem' with the .257 came from it's early days when it was generally a re-barrel of a 7 mm mauser. The pressures were kept really low because of the soft steels in the receiver. I think the saami max pressure is 54,000 psi by comparison a more modern cartridge - the .25-06 is 63,000 psi.

With modern materials and handloading there is no reason a .257 Robert couldn't be loaded to it's potential.

That's why the 257 Roberts +P was invented! Going off the top of my head, I think it's a 61,000 psi max pressure.

 

[beatledog7]

Std is 54,000 psi; +P is 58,000 psi.

 

[IWAC]

Hey, no problem. I do tend to rattle on sometimes; I think of one thing, then another, and pretty soon, it's 90 degrees off from whatever was being discussed.

Morcey2; That is one beautiful rifle!

Everybody; I had no idea that there were so many of us 257 roberts fans out there. I figure that even the .250 Savage and 25-06 shooters could be honorary fans.

 

[morcey2]

Morcey2; That is one beautiful rifle!

Thanks! I installed the rear pillar last night and hope to get the glass bedding done this weekend. I haven't decided what to use to finish the wood, but the leading candidates at the moment are BLO or Finnish Pine Tar Finish + Johnson paste wax. I've done a couple other laminate stocks with pine tar and it looks awesome. If I can find some Tung Oil, I may use that instead, but like I said, I haven't decided yet. I'm polishing up the metal to (hopefully) rust blue it when I get the time.

Matt

 

[Clark]

The .257 115 gr Nosler Ballistic tip bullet seems to stop them in their tracks.

 

[nathan]

Thats an awesome deer.

 

[Clark]

Shooting it was easy.
Getting it up on the tailgate by myself was hard.
I could not lift either end of the animal.

I figured out how to do it the night before.
Get a rope around it's neck and tie the rope to the front of the vehicle. Pull up on the center of the rope like a bow string. That gives leverage.

When I got to the butcher, I said, "I am 61 years old and and I lifted that deer into the vehicle by myself".
The response was, after looked at my pitiful old body, [expletive deleted] [to express disbelief].

Then he said that the get 100 deer a year, and that is the only one, when up on the rack, that drags it's nose on the floor like a elk.

 

[IWAC]

NIce; you and the Roberts did good!